Heavy Engineering union wants first IPO for employees


Ranchi. The trade union of Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Tuesday demanded that the first Initial Public Offer (IPO) of the company be restricted only for the employees.

"We are not against the company's move to come out with an IPO, but it should only be for the employees of the HEC," HEC Hatia Workers Union president Rana Sangram Singh told reporters.
"The sincere efforts of workers made the ailing HEC a profit making unit. Only employees of the company have the first right on shares," he said.

The union is against the privatisation of the HEC. "There is no question of privatisation. When HEC was under Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), it was not privatised and now it is profit making company."

Singh also demanded that companies like Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) and MNC of Durgapur be merged with HEC for increasing productivity and profitability.

Though the company is earning profits, workers' wage revision and arrears are still outstanding, union activists said.